Stay on top!

I've recently had my eyes opened (through training at Factory) as to what type of Jiu Jitsu player I am.
And it turns out I'm a counter-fighter - usually letting any opponent/sparring partner dictate the positional outcome of any roll - albeit subconsciously - and reacting to their choices rather than insisting on a dominant position.
I had never really thought about my game at this level before - I was just happy to roll, see what my partner did, and look for opportunities.

But having been comprehensively tooled twice in the past fortnight by James Nardone and his trapped-under-the-wheels-of-a-transit-van pressure game, I'm realising that I need to act rather than react and limit people's options.

I play a defensive game on the whole, because in the past I've always been outweighed in training and largely out-muscled, so rather than burn-out in an uneven fight for top position, I've been guilty of being conservative and playing a waiting game from my back.

This has left little room for any real development of my top game, and combined with any opponent whose top game outweighs my defence, I'm left with little in the way of advantage.

After sparring with James, he put it simply: "Your defence is great, but you need to be more pro-active - I didn't feel threatened at all. You need to put the pressure on me and shut my game down."

I suppose its a case of the age-old theory of removing yourself from your comfort zone to progress, but from now on I'll be aiming to stay on top and attack like a B-movie zombie on e-numbers.

For inspiration, I'll be applying the words of Chris Haueter at a recent seminar - "If I find myself on the bottom, it's usually 'cause I've screwed something up."